Having read some of the other threads, it's got my mind wandering a bit, which a can at times not necessarily be a good thing, but not this time.
I think one of the biggest challenges for us as human beings is to think "outside the box", as we are so focused, and rightly so on our immediate environment and the needs within. But at times like this I get to daydreaming what "life beyond life" will really be like.
God promises it to be perfect, we know that.
He promises that we'll be reunited with those gone from this world who have embraced Him, we know that too.
No sin, disease, pain or suffering forevermore. That's on the list as well.
But beyond those profound realities, what will daily life be like for us?
After a lot of thought and time spent studying the Bible and trying to see "the big picture" as God does to whatever degree I'm able to, I've come up with a few things I think may be on the horizon.
As I look back to Genesis, where it all began for us, some immediate things come to mind, such as Adam and Eve both being created to care for and tend to the needs of the garden about them. I'm thinking God's plan may involve getting back to those original elements which He came up with and liked to begin with, before we messed things up.
In other words I think we'll be once again given stewardship over the New Earth with the responsibility to care for it. To basically fulfill the failed plan originally entrusted to Adam and Eve before sin had entered into the picture.
The main difference is that sin will not be a factor we have to deal with any longer and can really get down to the business God had intended all along...plans that got put on the back burner since that time when a certain pair had decided to bite into that apple.
With this current age closed, we will for the first time really get to see what God had in mind for man all along, and that is exciting. I have no idea what He has planned, but I know it's got to be amazing.
For the first time, mankind will be able to really see his potential fulfilled the way God had intended, and to what heights and places He will take us on that eternal journey is beyond my finite mind to grasp.
I get goosebumps just trying to think about it!
Right now, we're sort of egocentric out of necessity, because God has aimed us as believers this way in order to fulfill the Great Commission. Since humanity is on His mind, it's naturally on ours too. But once we get beyond all that, and the Bible's prophecies come to pass, and gets put up on the eternal shelf, as "Project Completed", what new uncharted, unfathomable chapter begins as a new book is written for mankind?
I don't know about you guys, but I'm not sittin' on no dumb cloud with a harp singin' stuff in latin for eternity. I think God would get pretty bored of that too. He strikes me as the action oriented sort of God, so I imagine He's got a lot of off the hook stuff planned.
Anyone else find themselves thinking about this stuff from time to time?